Georgia Tech routs Notre Dame

Sep 2, 2007 - 1:40 AM
SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Ticker) -- Notre Dame may miss Brady Quinn
more than anyone in South Bend could have imagined.

Tashard Choice rushed for a career-high 196 yards and Travis
Bell kicked three field goals Saturday, leading Georgia Tech to
a 33-3 season-opening rout of the sputtering Fighting Irish.

Avenging a 14-10 loss to Notre Dame in last season's opener, the
Yellow Jackets held the Fighting Irish to their lowest point
total in a season opener since a 3-0 loss to Missouri in 1978.

Quinn's departure left Notre Dame inexperienced at quarterback,
and it showed as the Irish appeared confused and disorganized.
Notre Dame's first six possessions resulted in two fumbles and
four punts.

"I'm not happy with us (not) taking care of the football," Notre
Dame coach Charlie Weis said. "I'm not happy with our
protection. But I have to wait to see how many of those errors
are quarterback related and how many of them are protection
related, and how many of them are route related.

"There's a whole litany of problems right there that we have to
fix. The problem is when you have so many issues - it wasn't
like even though we knew they were going to throw the kitchen
sink - it wasn't like anything that was unfamiliar territory as
far as what they were doing."

The Fighting Irish (0-1) were held to 122 total yards, including
minus-eight yards rushing.

Notre Dame's defense kept the Irish in the game in the first
half as the Yellow Jackets (1-0) settled for field goals of 32,
29 and 40 yards to grab a 9-0 lead early in the second period.

But Georgia Tech wore down the Irish, led by Choice, who scored
on runs of 22 and seven yards.

"I'll be honest with you folks, I did not see this coming,"
Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey said. "I thought we would play
pretty well defensively. I did not think we would be able to
run the ball as well as we ran it today. I didn't know that."

Weis did not see it coming either.

"I thought that in this opener - with our team - I thought that
we would play the game, you know, more of a low scoring
mentality than one I've had in the past," Weis said. "Usually
when I'm trying to score a whole bunch of points, we're throwing
it a whole bunch."

The Fighting Irish posted their lowest offensive output since
managing just 109 yards in a 41-10 loss to Southern California
in 2004.

"I think there definitely was a negative residual effect of the
defense having to be on the field because of the lack of
consistent drives by the O," Weis said.

Notre Dame failed to score a touchdown in a season opener for
the first time since 1985.

"I don't know," Weis said of the last time a team he coached
failed to score a touchdown. "I mean, we've had some awful
games in the past, but it's been a while."

Weis, who opted not to name his starting quarterback during the
week, used all three of his signal-callers.

Demetrius Jones started but was benched in favor of Evan
Sharpley midway through the second quarter before highly touted
freshman Jimmy Clausen made his first appearance with 8:46 left
in the fourth period.

Weis said his indecision was not a distraction for the team.

"The whole team knew what we were doing for weeks," he said.
"So for the team, it wasn't a negative and for those players, it
was just to make sure that those guys weren't under the
scrutiny of all the Notre Dame fans across the country."

None of the quarterbacks could get anything going as Georgia
Tech's defense dominated throughout, recording 16 plays for
losses - including eight sacks.

"We were just trying to beat Georgia Tech," Weis said of the
quarterback situation. "And we've been practicing this for
multiple weeks. We established our mentality, what we were
going to do weeks ago, and when I said to everyone that all of
these guys were involved."

As for next week's road game against Penn State, Weis said their
will be a definite starter announced ahead of time.

"I think that once I know what I'm doing, I think I'm going to
need 48 hours," Weis said. "I think I'm going to need at least
24 hours. I might not be ready by the press conference
tomorrow, but by the time I meet with you Tuesday, I'll tell
what you we're doing."